A New Dream
by RoyalVicTorie
Summary: One Shot: After ten years of marriage to the beautiful Rapunzel, Eugene seems to have everything he wants but also a few things that he could do without. (Responsibility. It's responsibility. He's so sick of being princely and going to meetings and such.) But now his wife has a new adventure planned for them...and it's one Eugene doesn't feel ready for.


A New Dream

After ten years of marriage, Eugene no longer woke up when his bride slipped out of bed. For the first three years, he had stumbled after her into the barely-breaking dawn, but after their oldest was born, he gladly surrendered the pretense in return for the responsibility of late-night baby breaks. So rolling over to find only an empty pillow was not a surprise, but actually one of the best parts of his morning. Giving a sleepy grunt, Eugene buried his nose in the cool fabric and breathed in deeply the lingering scent of Rapunzel's hair: all honey and sunshine. "Nmphh.."

"Ahem!"

One brown eye slowly opened, peeking through the mussed strands of chestnut hair. "You, Gunter, are not the pretty sight that I wanted to wake to this morning.." Eugene grumbled.

The former ruffian cleared his throat. He laid the royal bathrobe down on the bed before straightening the perfectly crisp folds of his cravat. "Your Highness. It is half-past seven. Your morning meetings begin in one half hour. Your schedule for the day includes.."

The sleepy royal threw the blankets over himself, hiding from the list of responsibilities that Gunter was rattling off. "I don't even like lettuce, why would I want to oversee the opening of a lettuce farm?" he interrupted from his cottony cocoon. A distant click followed by rapid, tiny footsteps gave him only a few seconds of warning before the royal bedchamber's bed was invaded by a pair of little monsters.

"Pirate attack!" Princess Flynnigan shrieked as she threw herself at the silky blob of her hiding father.

"Piwate!" her younger brother, Seamus echoed as he toddled over. The little princeling tried twice to climb up the bedframe that was nearly as tall as he was. Frowning a little, he turned around and pointed meaningfully at his hulking nanny. "Vadmir!" he called. "He'p!" The gigantic square frame of Vladimir momentarily blocked out all the sunshine pouring in through the nearby windows. His giant hands descended, scooping up the young prince as easily as he would have a pillow or one of his treasured ceramic figurines. The matching faces of Eugene and his daughter looked up in surprise as Seamus giggled over their heads. "Uh-oh!" he laughed before launching himself from Vladimir's outstretched arms and into his father's lap.

Prince Eugene put up a valiant fight, but the tickling of the pirates was just too much. He finally admitted surrender, his face pressed down into the disarrayed pillows as they jumped over (and sometimes on) his back. "Very well, pirates. What are your - _oof!-_ demands of this - _ugh_ \- much abused father you are _-umph!_ \- squashing?"

Princess Flynnigan jumped off her father and very seriously nodded. "We are prepared to deliver our demands," she promised. Reaching over, Flynnigan pulled her still jumping brother over to kneel beside her. Folding her hands in her lap, the heir apparent solemnly leveled a queenly gaze at her pajama-bedecked father. "Prince Daddy, you must make Mommy go on a picnic with us today."

"A picnic?" He leaned his chin on an open palm as he thought over that. His Punzie was always notoriously busy; she had the energy of a unicorn high on sprinkles and rainbow dust. She claimed that it was because she had spent so long with nothing to do that she was still trying to catch up. He believed it was much more that her giant heart couldn't possibly say no to anyone who asked for her help. ..but maybe the tortured childhood had something to do with it too. "That does sound - "

"Your Highness," Gunter interrupted with a meaningful head nod. "One quarter of an hour.." He tapped his pocketwatch.

The monotony of his expected day flashed before his eyes like a nightmare: stiff collars, stuffy egg-salad lunch with even stuffier merchants. And of course the lettuce farm inspection. "I...I can't possibly," he said sadly. His children's faces fell. They believed their fun had been cut short by icky responsibility. ...As a father, he clearly couldn't allow such dream-killing to happen on his watch. "You see, Gunter, I've been kidnapped by pirates. My hands are tied." He raised his hands which he had sneakily twisted up in the tie of the forgotten bathrobe. His fingers wiggled at Gunter tauntingly. Flynnigan shouted in excitement and hugged her father around his shoulders. Eugene rose majestically from the messy bed, princess and princeling clinging to his shoulders and waist. In his most royal voice, the former thief commanded: "Deliver the demands to my beloved wife. The northeast riding trail is where she must meet my dreadful kidnappers. Ten o'clock," he added as he strode towards the doors to the rest of the royal family suite. "On a horse. We'll bring the picnic."

"Your Highness!" Gunter protested.

"Vladimir," Eugene said patiently. "Please close the door. Right, Princess Flynn?"

Flynnigan straightened up, slightly choking Euge as she did. "Yes! Pirate Vladimir, detain the nasty ruffian!"

The nanny's bone-shakingly low voice rumbled behind them. "Sorry, Gunter."

It took an hour and a half for the pirate crew to dress, convince Attila to pack a basket, and make it down to the library to chose their picnic reading. The royal castle library was Eugene's favorite place in the world, and while he and Flynnigan could have spent the rest of the day lost wandering the aisles and devouring every adventure story they found there, little Seamus's attention span was not so stalwart. Dumping six promising-looking tomes into Eugene's satchel, they tip-toed back out. The three adventurers had to use all their best sneaking skills to make it past the Great Hall where the royal schedule-makers lurked, but once they did it, they were free to storm the stables.

"Maximus!" Flynnigan greeted first thing. The white stallion's ears twisted eagerly their direction, his mane flying as he twirled to face them. His happy whinny at the sight of them sent Flynnigan sailing across the stable to greet him with loving pats and a large, green apple.

Eugene set Seamus down so he could excitedly toddle after his sister. The man only got a few steps before being pulled to a stop. Smirking, he twirled and bowed regally to the elegant roan mare who had nipped at his shirt tails. "Milady," he crooned. The mare tossed her head to set her beautiful red hair fluttering. "Has that foolish stallion been appreciating your beauty?" he asked, moving in to stroke her lean neck and generally fawn over his pretty pony. She huffed and leaned into his petting. "Of course. I knew he hadn't." From the other stall, Maximus snorted offendedly.

"Daddy! Daddy! Can we take Maximus?" The stallion's ears pricked up hopefully.

"Well, if we take Maximus, who will Mommy ride?" Eugene pointed out as he tried to take back his satchel from a curious gray in the neighboring stall.

"She can take Gladys!" His mare snorted in shock and offense at the suggestion. Prancing over, she bit the strap of the reclaimed satchel and tossed it around her own neck. Huffing in pride she snorted at Maximus. The stallion's mouth dropped open. Whinnying loudly, he danced back and forth in his own stall in challenge.

Flynnigan laughed in delight at the horsey antics while Eugene scrambled to grab his two year old out of the way. "Flynn, honey, why don't Seamus and I ride Gladys and you can take Max Jr.?"

His daughter's green eyes flashed in triumph and he knew he had been played. "By myself? Thank you, Daddy!"

"I hear there are some pirates hiding in my stables. I think I found them."

Spinning around, they saw highlighted in the stable doorway Crown Princess Rapunzel in all her mid-morning glory. Eugene's face instantly melted into the doofy smile that he couldn't help making whenever he first saw his beautiful bride.

"Mommy!" both their children shouted, rushing over to greet her with eager hugs and grubby kisses.

Seeing the opportunity for what it was, Eugene bridled and saddled Gladys in record time. He was attempting to do the same for Maximus, when a shadow fell over his shoulder. "Eugene…"

Wincing at the dangerous warning note in his wife's voice, Eugene guiltily looked up at her from where he crouched in front of the tack box. "Yes, Blondie?" Her hands were on her hips. Oh no! Not her hands on her hips! He attempted to smoulder. "My dearest, eternal love?"

Her green eyes narrowed slightly. "So, you seem to have evaded capture from those pirates.."

"On the contrary, they have conscripted me into their crew," he confessed, holding Maximus's bridle up as proof. "Their captain is devilishly persuasive. I was weak."

Rapunzel's lips twitched in a small smile before falling a little. "So, what about your meetings?" she asked.

"Gunter took care of it," he promised, rising. Grabbing the saddle from the wall, he made sure to flash his lovely princess a glimpse of his biceps taut and curling from the saddle's weight. His efforts got an eye roll...and a smile.

Over in the stall, Rapunzel helped him to saddle up the aging stallion. "Okay," she said in her serious voice. "We truly do need to talk about this - this skipping you've been doing." He evaded her by ducking down to tighten the girth. "Eugene. Is this about what my father said last month? Because we can - "

Straightening up, he captured her hand and kissed it. "My love. Please. Let's just enjoy this one morning. Please? He looked over to where Flynnigan was dragging her own saddle over. "You. Me. The children. Just one morning full of adventure. Maybe even some ruffians." He squeezed her hand a little. "Just one tiny adventure."

Her fingers gently squeezed around his, the tiny golden flecks in her huge green eyes catching the light. "Okay. But later, we need to talk."

"I know." Leaning over Maximus's back, he gave her a swift kiss. "Now I'm going to go help that intrepid daughter of ours before she ends up saddling Seamus instead."

The ride along the river was perfectly peaceful - well, as peaceful as life with a feisty eight-year-old and impatient two-year-old could be. And when they found a neat place to picnic, the parents settled in to quietly read to each other while Flynn taught Seamus how to catch a frog in the shallows. Eugene leaned back against a sturdy tree trunk, reading to his wife the story of a man who wished to live beyond his capabilities. "Whatever is the lot of humankind, I want to taste it within my deepest self. I want to seize the highest and the lowest - to load the world's woe and bliss upon my heart. I will expand my single self. And in the end I'll go down with all the rest."

Her head in his lap, Rapunzel watched the sunshine flicker on the leaves above them. "This scholar, he seems to have all the right ideas, but he sure isn't going about them the right way," she observed.

He tipped his head to look at her. "You like him, don't you?"

"Faustus? Of course, I do! He has ambition, and he has goals and dreams."

"He's making a deal with the devil, Punzie.."

"But it's for a dream," she pointed out, picking up one of Attila's sublime cupcakes from the basket. "I ran away with a wanted criminal to achieve my dream. That was kind of a deal with a devil."

"But you had a frying pan," he reminded her. "Faustus doesn't. Nor does he have a frog."

"Chameleon," she corrected instantly, scooping the frosting off her cupcake and offering it to Eugene who happily licked it off her finger. "But I believe that it was having a dream that made me strong. It was not just the frying pan. And it was the people who helped me along the way that made me strong too: you, Maximus, Attila, Vladimir, and all the others."

"I'm glad I ranked above the horse," he said wryly.

"But not Pascal," she affirmed. "Clearly, he was the most help."

"Clearly." Leaning over, he stole a bite from her cupcake.

The fought playfully over the final bite of cupcake, and Rapunzel, who was the victor, awarded her husband a kiss as consolation. With her forehead leaning on his, she breathed softly, "Eugene. I want to chase a new dream with you."

His fingers cupped her jaw and ran back to tangle in the dark, silky strands of her hair. "I know.."

"My mother, my father: they won't be around forever. They're getting older. And, well, they've worked so hard for so long to take care of Corona. So, I want to take care of them." His gentle kiss assured her to say all that was on her mind. "And..I love this country. I really, really do love it. So I want to be a good queen, Eugene, but..I need your help. I don't think I could do it all on my own."

He kissed the tip of her nose. "Rapunzel, you are absolutely amazing. You could do anything if you wanted it. But while you could do it on your own, you shouldn't have to." Pulling back slightly, he gazed into his love's bright green eyes - the eyes that had always made his knees weak, though he tried to hide it.

"So, you'll be my king?" she asked softly.

"Hm...I don't know.. Maybe I should make you ask another twelve times first like when I proposed." She pinched him and he yelped. "Okay, okay! Not a time to tease. I can see that now."

"Eugene.."

Wrapping his fingers together behind the small of her back, Eugene crinkled his nose playfully at his bride. "Rapunzel. My bride. My love. I promise to stand beside you. Even if I'm the most horrible, impolite, ruffian king Corona has ever seen."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You are not a ruffian," she protested. "Well...not any more, anyways."

"I defected to become a pirate this morning," he pointed out. "That's pretty thugly."

"And you let the children tie up Gunter."

He smiled sheepishly. "Technically that was Vladimir..?"

She rolled her eyes. "My future king is such a hooligan. Poor Corona."

"Hey! If Arandelle can survive your cousins, I think Corona stands a chance with me!" he protested.

"That's better," she decreed, turning around to snuggle back in his arms. "I knew I chose right when I picked you, Eugene."

"Of course you did, Blondie." He kissed the crown of her far-from blond hair. "And you know what?"

"What?"

"As long as you promise to come with me...I think I can bear to go to that lettuce farm on our way home."

"Does it mean I'll miss my afternoon budget meeting?"

"Probably. But you'll get to be with your young heirs. Teaching them to be more regal than either of their parents."

"Hm. So you're saying that it's important for the future of Corona that we have more secret picnics? Even once we're officially queen and king?"

He rested his chin on her head and watched as his beautiful children splashed in the river shallows. This perfect moment: his family safe and happy - that would always be enough of a dream for the orphan Eugene Fitzherbert. But for Rapunzel? He would make her dream his dream too. "Oh, I'd say it was dreadfully important," he murmured. "It has to be the most important thing of all."

"I love you, Eugene."

"I love you, Rapunzel."

The End. :)


End file.
